

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">

<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript" src="helpman_topicinit.js"></script>

<title>Spring Layout [Enterprise Architect User Guide]</title>

<meta name="keywords" content="Enterprise Architect, Sparx Systems, UML, Diagram,Diagram Spring Layout,Layout Diagram,Layout Diagram Spring Layout,Spring Diagram Layout">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />

<link type="text/css" href="default.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<style type="text/css">
  A, A:Visited
  {
    color: #00F;
  }

  A:Active, A:Hover
  {
    color: #F00;
  }

  OL
  {
    margin: 5px 0 5px 48px;
  }

  UL
  {
    margin-bottom: 3px;
    margin-top: 0;
  }

  #nsr
  {
    background-color: #D4DFFF;
  }

  #nsr A
  {
    text-decoration: none;
  }

  #mainbody
  {
    padding: 8px;
  }

  .p_BodyText
  {
    padding: 5px 0;
  }
</style>



<style type="text/css" media="screen">
  BODY
  {
    background-color: #FFFFFF;
  }

  #nsr
  {
    padding: 6px 6px 0 6px;
    border-bottom: none;
    vertical-align: top;
    z-index: 2;
    visibility: visible;
    left: 0;
    top: 0;
    position: absolute;
  }

  #mainbody
  {
    left: 0;
    top: 0;
    margin: 0;
    position: absolute;
    padding: 10px;
    overflow: auto;
    height: 100%;
    z-index: 1;
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-position: bottom right;
    background-attachment: fixed;
  }
</style>

<style type="text/css" media="print">
  #nsr
  {
    visibility: none;
  }

  #mainbody
  {
    overflow: visible;
  }
</style>
<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript" src="nonscroll.js"></script>

</head>
<body scroll="no">

<div id="page">



        <div id="content">
          <div id="content-inner">
          



  
          <div id="nsr">
            <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" width="100%">
              <tr valign="top">
                <td align="left">
  


                  <p class="p_Heading1"><span class="f_Heading1">Spring Layout</span></p>



  
                </td>
                <td align="right">
                  <a href="introduction.htm" onmouseover="document.images.main.src='button_main_h.gif'" onmouseout="document.images.main.src='button_main.gif'">
                    <img name="main" src="button_main.gif" border=0 alt="Return to Introduction">
                  </a>&nbsp;
    
                  <a href="digraph_layout.htm" onmouseover="document.images.prev.src='button_prev_h.gif'" onmouseout="document.images.prev.src='button_prev.gif'">
                    <img name=prev src="button_prev.gif" border=0 alt="Previous page" />
                  </a>&nbsp;
    
    
    
                  <a href="neaten_layout.htm" onmouseover="document.images.next.src='button_next_h.gif'" onmouseout="document.images.next.src='button_next.gif'">
                    <img name=next src="button_next.gif" border=0 alt="Next page" />
                  </a>
    
    
                </td>
              </tr>
            </table>
          </div>
          <div id="mainbody">
  


                <p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">The </span><span class="f_BodyText" style="font-style: italic;">Spring</span><span class="f_BodyText"> layout uses a force-directed approach to arrange the selected elements organically.</span></p>
<p class="p_TextIndentedL2"><img src="spring.png" width="827" height="673" border="0" alt="spring"></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">The Spring layout employs a physical analogy to lay out elements. Each element is treated as a particle with a like electrical charge that repels other elements. Connectors act as springs (hence the term Spring layout) that draw connected elements back together. The layout is good for highlighting clusters of related objects and identifying symmetry in the graph.</span></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">To invoke this layout, follow the steps below:</span></p>
<ol style="text-indent: 0px; margin-left: 48px; list-style-position: outside;">
<li value=1><span class="f_NumberedList">Follow the general <a href="layout_diagrams.htm">Layout Diagrams</a> procedure, and at step 3 select </span><span class="f_MenuKeyField">Spring</span><span class="f_NumberedList">.</span></li>
<li value=2><span class="f_NumberedList">In the </span><span class="f_MenuKeyField">Iterations</span><span class="f_NumberedList"> field, type the number of iterations, or rounds, to perform to reach the final layout.</span><br>
<span class="f_NumberedList">&nbsp;</span><br>
<span class="f_NumberedList">The layout is developed over several iterations. Depending on the complexity of the graph, increasing the number of iterations produces a better result but takes longer to calculate.</span></li>
</ol>
<ol style="text-indent: 0px; margin-left: 48px; list-style-position: outside;">
<li value=3><span class="f_NumberedList">If the diagram contains elements that significantly vary in size, and that might overlap in the final layout, select the </span><span class="f_MenuKeyField">Scale to prevent overlap</span><span class="f_NumberedList"> checkbox to scale up the positions of the selected elements (preserving size) until no elements overlap.</span></li>
</ol>




            </div>
          </div>
        </div>



</div>


</body>
</html>
